Remembering When a John Lennon Tribute Song (Sort Of) Reunited the Three Living Beatles in 1981

People were constantly clamoring for a Beatles reunion in the wake of the group’s breakup. In terms of recording together, there had been plenty of partial reunions that included multiple members of the band. But all four never contributed to the same track.

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In the immediate aftermath of John Lennon’s death, the three living members of the group performed together. Fittingly, that track paid tribute to their deceased friend.

Partial Reunions

Until the song “All Those Years Ago” was released in 1981, the closest project to a full-scale Beatles’ reunion was Ringo Starr’s 1973 album Ringo. Starr hosted all three of his Beatle bandmates on the LP, although never in the same song.

In addition, Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison all intersected on each other’s records in various combinations during the 70s. Noticeably absent from their get-togethers was Paul McCartney. McCartney had his own band (Wings) much of that time. He also found himself isolated, somewhat, in the legal battles The Fab Four waged post-breakup.

John Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980. As the world mourned, Beatles fans waited to see if there would be any kind of joint statement from the remaining members. George Harrison’s “All Those Years Ago” unofficially and brilliantly served that purpose for the trio.

“Years” in the Making

George Harrison initially wrote “All Those Years Ago” with the intent of handing it off to Ringo Starr. In November 1980, Starr went as far as laying down the vocals to the track while also handling the drums. But he just didn’t feel like the song was a good fit for his vocals, so he decided not to use it on his own record.

Lennon’s death changed the song’s fortunes. Harrison realized that the title refrain fit well with a look back at his ex-bandmate’s life. He changed up the lyrics in the verses to refer to Lennon’s lofty ideals and how he was often persecuted for them. Harrison also touchingly invoked his own relationship with Lennon: “Living with good and bad/I always looked up to you.”

Harrison easily could have stopped there and come away with a hit. But he made one more overture, perhaps the most unlikely of all, considering the history behind it. He invited Paul McCartney to add backing vocals on the song.

Let’s Call Paul

Interestingly enough, the McCartney backing vocal (along with vocals from his wife Linda and Denny Laine of Wings) came about as an afterthought. Harrison had joined McCartney in the studio to add a guitar part to the song “Wanderlust”, which appeared on Macca’s 1982 album Tug Of War.

Once they all assembled, however, “All Those Years Ago” took precedence. And with McCartney’s participation, all three living Beatles could be found on the track, even if they each recorded their parts separately.

“All Those Years Ago” would serve as the last such reunion of the three living Beatles on a single recording for 14 years. The Anthology project in 1995 brought them together once again to record a pair of songs (“Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”) that started as John Lennon demos.

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